38
Then answered I and said, O Lord that bearest rule, even we all are full of impiety.
39
And for our sakes peradventure it is that the floors of the righteous are not filled, because of the sins of them that dwell upon the earth.
40
So he answered me, and said, Go thy way to a woman with child, and ask of her when she hath fulfilled her nine months, if her womb may keep the birth any longer within her.
41
Then said I, No, Lord, that can she not. And he said unto me, In the grave the chambers of souls are like the womb of a woman:
42
For like as a woman that travaileth maketh haste to escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them.
43
From the beginning, look, what thou desirest to see, it shall be shewed thee.
44
Then answered I and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, and if it be possible, and if I be meet therefore,
45
Shew me then whether there be more to come than is past, or more past than is to come.
46
What is past I know, but what is for to come I know not.
47
And he said unto me, Stand up upon the right side, and I shall expound the similitude unto thee.
48
So I stood, and saw, and, behold, an hot burning oven passed by before me: and it happened that when the flame was gone by I looked, and, behold, the smoke remained still.